My own March Madness

I get antsy in the wintertime.  I don't want to stay in one place for very long.  (And if I do, there are consequences too.)  So I get out of the house.  But where do I go?  Well, we could go to the mall or some of my favorite stores, we could do some grocery shopping, or we could shoot over to Cornwall because they have some good thrift stores there.
And before I know it I'm lugging bags of stuff into the house.  Stuff that was too good to pass up.  Stuff I really most likely did not need but wanted.  We've been shopping the same stores in the mall now for months that we walk into the store and actually get disappointed when the sale rack looks exactly as it did three days ago.  And yet there is always some deal to find.  Over the last few months, we've scored corduroy jeans for the bf for five bucks, a Calvin Klein leather jacket for him for thirty, wool socks for two dollars a pair, and a nine west purse for me for three dollars.  All brand new.  And then there is the thrifting-like ten cent men's ties. 
But due to a combination of monthly car repairs (see first post), not staying out of the mall, several birthdays in the last few months, and the occasional internet purchase for when I manage to stay out of the mall, my credit card statements are starting to look a little scary even for me.  (I pay the card in full each month.)  I think I'm spending too much money and so for March, I'm scrimping as much as I can.  I'm trying to stay out of the stores.  I don't need anything.  But I want....
I haven't ordered a single book from amazon this month and it's killing me.  There are so many knitting ones that I want.  I want to get more supplies, fancy stitch markers, circular needles in the length I prefer, fancy yarn,...oh the list just goes on.
But I'm being good.  I did reward myself yesterday to a trip to the thrift stores, but spent less than $25 for the whole day of thrifting.  I even found some really fancy yarn and some more ten cent ties to make my ugly tie quilt. 
So we will see how I do.  I start my spring break today after classes.  I have enough projects and ideas at my own house that it will be like shopping there, but everything will be free!  Can't get any better than that.

My needles were twitching

I'm not really sure who to blame.  It might be my friend Miss Margaret or maybe Miss Jackie or maybe even the boyfriend or perhaps old man winter.  It doesn't really matter why it happened; I'm just glad it did.  It actually began sometime in late January when I picked up the scarf that had been on my knitting needles since sometime last winter.  The bf and I had purchased matching yarns (blue for boys and pink for girls) to knit each other a scarf.  He had never knitted before, and I was going to share my knowledge with him.  My mom had taught me how to knit when I was young, maybe elevenish.
I started to work on the scarf and remembered how much I enjoyed knitting and how it had been a long time since I'd seen anything come to fruition.  So I made it my goal, by the end of the month I would finish that scarf.  And then it happened, there was yarn left over--enough yarn to make a matching hat.  So on to the needles it went.  And I had a new project to finish for February.  But what about that afghan I had been meaning to finish that my mom had bought me the yarn for a year ago xmas?  It was all shades of pink and what project would be better to finish in the month celebrating love?  By this time I had a weekly knit night planned with my friend Margaret who was in my neighborhood on Thursdays.  We were fantastic encouragement for one another and in no time at all I had finished several hats and was in my craft room looking for projects that needed to be completed.  A scarf from nearly four years ago finally made it off the needles and while I was in there I found some lovely yarn that would make a quick skinny scarf (warmer weather must be on its way soon.)
All the while I had reconnected with a wonderful friend from many years ago.  Quite the inspirational woman now and she gave me the extra push to get my butt in gear.  Sharing ideas and inspiring concepts made me a do-er again.
The grand total by the end of the month of February included a total of two finished projects that were started previously (one afghan and one scarf), seven pointy elf hats, two regular hats, and one skinny scarf.  Of course on March first I finished my first sweater.  Okay, so maybe it's a mini sweater that I made a refrigerator magnet out of it.  But it's still quite an accomplishment.
And it hasn't stopped there...I've made one more pointy elf hat and one more regular hat.  I've got a mitten on one set of needles and one long (but unfortunately not long enough) leg warmer also on the needles.
Perhaps the most thrilling project occurred this weekend.  I finally have curtains in my living room thanks to a snowy Sunday morning in my craft room.  It feels so good to have them up as I've lived in my house about eighteen months and owned the fabric for over a year.
I can't wait to see what else these last winter months will bring.